South Africa’s curated marketplace for adventures Gummie.co.za has raised an undisclosed funding round from angel investors, enabling it to relaunch with new features and design.
Launched in December 2014 in its current form, Gummie handpicks the most interesting activities and tours in South Africa, and allows users to book online.
The site originated in 2012 as an online magazine about people, places and events in Johannesburg, becoming the second biggest online publication in the city with 40,000 page views per month; before pivoting to the new model.
Gummie has now raised funding from two private angel investors, although the amount of the funding remains undisclosed.
On the back of the funding, the startup has relaunched its site, as a fully-responsive site tailored to “on-the-go” access, with a range of new features, including “adventure collections” — experiences grouped by a certain theme; and gifting – allowing users to purchase experiences and send to a recipient via email as a beautiful gift voucher.
“Funding gave us the opportunity to move onto next level and turn our MVP [minimum viable product]into a comprehensive product. We are going to become a go-to one-stop-shop for unique African experiences – thanks to the insights from the past months, great mentorship and business guidance of our new investors and partners. We could not be happier with the results of 2015,” Gummie founder Ksenia Mardina told Disrupt Africa.
The startup has also launched an affiliate programme for Airbnb hosts, allowing hosts to enhance travellers’ experience by offering a curated range of activities at a 10 per cent discount; as well as a city guide and map.
“Not only does the programme add points to the host’s rating on Airbnb but provides an additional stream of income — each hosts gets a split of revenue from the bookings,” Mardina said.
Gummie offers around 30 tours at once, and is receiving around 1,000 unique visitors per month and around 40 bookings. The startup makes money by charging a 15 per cent fee on every tour booked.
The startup plans to expand across South Africa by mid-2016, and then begin rolling out in other African countries.
